Media Essays: Pokémon Horizons Rewrite (Part 2)

Part 1 here.

For this part, we rewrite Seasons 3 and 4 and see how things will play out in this new version of Pokémon Horizons. Let's dive in!

Season 3: Terastal Debut

Here we are, my most hated season of the series and DEFINITELY one that's in need of a rewrite! In fact, as you know I already did rewrite it, but now I have to rewrite it all over again so it fits this version of Horizons. Talk about rewrite-ception. XD So yeah, once again, it's time to rewrite Terastal Debut. But how will it go this time round?

The rules of the Tera Training course remain the same as in my original rewrite: you don't have to win to pass the fight in a Basics Test to pass, but you DO have to win the battle in the Usage Test in order to pass. If you fail the Usage Test, you only get one do-over and that's it. Lose the battle again and you fail the course entirely. Another thing I'll be changing is how during Season 6 of the original show, it was revealed you can take the Tera Training course as many times as you want, which retroactively made Season 3 even worse and devoid of stakes in hindsight because Liko failing was even more meaningless with this information in mind and also made Dash resorting to using Strong Spheres come off as dumb since she could've just tried the course again. Here, there's no such benefit. If you fail the course, that's it. You're done. Finished. No second chances. There has to be ACTUAL stakes to the story, you know, something the original arc failed miserably at.

Anyhow, episodes. The first episode of the arc is the same as before, only this time Ann will win against Liko so we can see how Ann's been improving over time and it also means that we can end this arc with another Liko and Ann battle and this time have Liko win. It'll be a neat way to bookend the arc where the first and last episodes have the two battle and Ann wins the first time while Liko wins the second time. Unlike the original, I CAN give my main characters equal treatment. After the battle, Liko, Ann and Dot see two mysterious students join the course as well.

It's Sidian and Coral of course, and just like last time, they go under the fake names of "Seasoning" and "Cornbread", cause why the hell would I leave that out? That gag was a classic. XD But another change from the original is that Liko, Ann and Dot won't just go with it and not tell anybody. They let Director Clavell know about the duo and he promises to keep an eye on them and will expel them if they try anything dodgy.

Like in the original, Liko goes up against Katy, Ann faces Brassius and Dot faces Iono. The only changes to these episodes will be that Liko beats Katy (as she SHOULD have done in the original!) and Floragato will learn Sucker Punch during the battle with Katy, not in the finale and Ann won't beat Brassius because Brassius handicapped himself. Unlike Roy, Ann will win battles because she's actually skilled at them and won't need the plot to nerf her opponents so she can win. Dot will still lose to Iono since realistically, she's the only one who should lose her battle due to being the least skilled trainer of the trio as she started out the latest. The Flower Tower episode will be replaced with an episode that'll focus on Liko's Pichu and see her evolve into a Pikachu during a battle with Coral and Sidian. After the battle, the duo report to Spinel how Ann did nothing to sabotage Liko and has made no attempts to steal Terapagos. Spinel just gloats how that factors into his plans brilliantly and tells them to keep monitoring the two. He has somewhere important to be, which leads to him stealing the Laquium from Exceed later in the season.

Episodes 52 - 56 play out mostly the same as before with Ann's Wattrel evolving into Kilowattrel, Liko's Hatenna evolving into Hattrem, Spinel stealing the Laquium from Exceed and the Elite Four Tag Battles still occurring here. The only changes to these episodes include Gibeon telling Amethio he needs to keep Ann in line as Spinel warns him she seems to be straying from her mission and Liko and Katy will win their battle against Rika while Ann and Dot lose their battles.

The next big changes will be Episodes 57 and 58. Episode 57 will occur before our heroines get back to Naranja Academy and have Liko, Ann and Dot come across the ruins by chance and decide to look for video opportunities there instead of Raifort taking them there. Unlike the original episode, Liko and Dot will catch Charcadet and Gimmighoul here instead of in the time skip era. There really was no reason at all for these captures to occur later, so they're happening here instead. It also plays into the lesson Liko learned in Part 1 of my rewrite that she can't rely on just one kind of Pokémon all the time. She believes a Fire-type will be useful having seen how awesome Ann and Fuecoco are together. Episode 58 will not be a filler episode about an over-enthusiastic Kingambit working at a restaurant. Instead, that episode will follow on from the Liko vs. Rika episode in where the Usage Tests are announced and the match-ups are as follows: Liko will battle Grusha, Ann will battle Ryme and Dot will battle Larry. As our heroines prepare to depart to Medali Town for Dot's Usage Test, Ann gets a call from Amethio and demands they meet up. Ann tells her friends she needs to meet someone and will be right back. She and Amethio meet outside the Academy and Amethio scolds her for delaying in her mission. Ann tries to twist it by saying she's just playing the part really well and is getting as deep undercover as possible, but Amethio doesn't buy it. He believes his sister is developing an actual bond with the target and he warns Ann that if she doesn't stick to the plan, then their grandfather's blood is on her hands. Without Terapagos and a means to reach Laqua, Gibeon won't have the means to stay alive any longer. Shaken, Ann swears she won't let him down. She returns to her friends and lies that everything is fine. She vows to herself she'll resume the mission once Tera Training is over.

Episode 59 will still give us Dot vs. Larry, only this time Dot will win her battle since I don't want to be unfair and have her as the only one who won't win any of her battles this season. Episode 60 won't be a filler episode where our heroes see snow for the first time. Instead, the Ryme two-parter will be pushed down so it fills in Episodes 60 and 61. In that two-parter, Ann battles and loses to Ryme but gets a rematch in the next episode that sees her Fuecoco evolve there instead of in the final episode and she wins this time, passing her Usage Test. We then get Liko vs. Grusha with the major change here being Liko will use Charcadet instead of Hattrem to battle him. Unfortunately, Cetitan knows Liquidation, so Charcadet still gets taken out. Liko loses and thus doesn't pass the Usage Test, but she does have a second chance. This leads to the next two episodes in where we get Liko encountering Amethio again and bearing witness to the effects of Laquium as Spinel tests it on his Umbreon. We also get Liko and Amethio in the cave again and that episode plays out the same as before with the only change being Liko's Charcadet learning Fire Spin as it helps build a fire, while also taking a shine to Ceruledge. At the end, when Amethio is being chewed out by Gibeon, he'll also bring up how Ann has abandoned her mission and joined the enemy, so she can consider herself disowned as well as him. Not wanting to break his sister's heart, Amethio doesn't tell her this.

Now we have an extra episode slot available, we can actually give Liko the much-deserved rematch against Grusha that the original series SHOULD have given us. Yeah, I'm still bitter that Roy got a rematch against Ryme but Liko got nothing! So what? This time, Charcadet is able to hold its own better with a much stronger move this time and Fire Spin helps to take down Cetitan while also softening up Altaria so Floragato can clinch the win. Now victorious, Liko passes her Usage Test and the girls go back to Naranja Academy in victory. The last two episodes will be relatively unchanged aside from Liko not needing Grusha to re-evaluate her test result since she passed this time. She, Ann and Dot battle Coral, Sidian and Chalce with Coral and Sidian losing while Chalce escapes with the school's data despite Dot and Penny's best efforts. The final episode will be a rematch between Liko and Ann and this time, Liko emerges victorious as I said earlier. Unlike before, the battle will see Liko and Ann use Pikachu and Sandslash in their battle as well as Hattrem and Kilowattrel. Kilowattrel will go down easy since it's the weakest of the bunch and Liko won't forget Floragato can use Acrobatics. Despite losing, Ann had a great time and says she wants to travel with Liko and battle with her bestie forever, but deep down she knows she still has a job to do...

This version of Season 3 fixes all the problems the original had. The Explorers aren't reduced to running gags and once more get more screen time, Liko isn't constantly losing for no reason under the pretence of character development, Ann doesn't get glorified like Roy does, there's no filler episodes, Liko and Dot get to catch Charcadet and Gimmighoul much sooner and the last episode gets to give us a way more satisfying ending. Now let's get to the next arc...

Season 4: Rayquaza Rising

(Ignore Roy's presence on the poster! Remember, he's absent from this rewrite!)

Now Tera Training is complete, Liko, Ann and Dot can set off again in the Brave Asagi and resume the hunt for the Legendary Six Heroes.

Season 4 will probably have the least amount of changes so far since there's not a whole lot that actually needs fixing in this one. The biggest changes really will be getting rid of the body swap episode and adding a third part to the backstory of the Explorers so we can actually devote an episode to showing how Lucius and Gibeon got the Black Rayquaza and White Zygarde respectively. I know many fans were annoyed that was never explained, so this rewrite will do so.

I'd have the episode be a tale of two halves with one focused on Lucius and one focused on Gibeon with the one thing tying their stories together being a desire to discover more in the world of Pokémon. Lucius got inspired to go on a journey after seeing the Black Rayquaza fly through the sky one day and Gibeon got inspired when he came across a Zygarde cell that snuck into his house. Both would then journey to find their respective Pokémon and after proving their worth in battle, the Rayquaza and Zygarde allowed themselves to be caught. The episode then ends with Lucius hearing Rystal in distress and we get the rest of the story from her side. I admit this might be a bit basic, but I think that's all we need here. We don't need some long, convoluted explanation for how Lucius and Gibeon caught their respective Pokémon, just an explanation of how they did it in the first place. And if you're curious, I'd have it so Lucius battles Rayquaza with his Lapras, who I'll reveal to be the first Pokémon he ever caught while I'd have Gibeon battle Zygarde with Dusknoir, the very same Dusknoir that Hamber uses. In this version, Hamber's Dusknoir was once Gibeon's but he passed it on to him as he trusted Hamber would take good care of it.

Other changes I'd have would be that Episode 73 would have more creative battle choreography instead of our heroes mostly spamming Acrobatics, Flame Charge and Liquidation and Kleavor wouldn't just nonsensically win at the end like in the original. No, this time it gets outright defeated. Seriously, the way it won at the end was so shoddy and unbelievably forced, so that's not happening here. Another thing that's not happening is that pointless episode focused on Ludlow. As a reminder, he doesn't exist in this rewrite so instead his episode will be yet another Explorers focused episode to take its place. During a break, Ann receives a call from Amethio so they can talk privately. Ann is able to slip away from the Rising Volt Tacklers and when she meets up, she swears to Amethio she's sticking to the plan, but that's not why he's here. Instead, he tells Ann that he's been banished from the Explorers, but he still doesn't tell Ann she's been disowned as well. Shocked, Ann worries on what Amethio will do now and her brother just insists he's still going to get to Laqua and please Gibeon. He also wants to test Ann's battle skills and see if she's got the strength necessary to pull the rug out from under the RVTs feet. So Ann and Amethio battle each other with her using Crocalor and Sandslash while Amethio uses Ceruledge and Corviknight. Corviknight and Sandslash are defeated, but Crocolor vs. Ceruledge is called off since Amethio thinks he's seen enough. He knows his sister is capable of pulling this off and so he tells Ann his plan: once they reach Laqua, she will steal Terapagos from Liko and use it to break the seal first, then Gibeon will be able to get what he wants. That should prove to him they're still loyal to him. Understanding, Ann promises she'll do what he's said.

Episodes 78 - 84 all remain unchanged. The events of those episodes will all play out as normal. Yes that includes Liko, Roy and Dot vs. Geeta. Unlike the fans, I thought the outcome made perfect sense and I'm not changing that. As if I'd want to change an episode that has Liko winning a battle. XD For those who need a recap, the events of those episodes include battling an Entei that's not Lucius' Entei, battling Geeta to get into Area Zero, Coral catching a Screaming Tail she nicknames Screamypuff, encountering Gouging Fire, battling Black Rayquaza and catching it, journeying to Laqua, Amethio learning the whole story from Hamber and our heroes using the Legendary Six Heroes to get to Laqua itself. And of course, I'm keeping that wonderful scene with Liko, Roy and Dot stargazing together, only it's Ann instead of Roy. Hearing Liko express sadness over the possibility she might have to say goodbye to Pagogo has Ann feel even guiltier about what she has to do, but she knows she can't let her grandfather down. So while Liko sleeps that night, she steals Pagogo and goes to the barrier that Pagogo put over the Laquium years ago. Although confused at what's going on, Ann lies to Pagogo saying that it's for the Rising Volt Tacklers. Pagogo believes her and lowers the barrier, which now means her grandfather can get the Laquium. Ann tries to inform Gibeon, but receives no answer since he wants nothing to do with his grandchildren anymore. Confused, Ann tells Amethio about it, and he says Gibeon's not answering him either. The Rising Volt Tacklers catch up to Ann and Liko wonders what Ann's doing with Pagogo. At this moment...

...the Explorers show up.

Like in the original version, Spinel and the others gloat about how the Rising Volt Tacklers have played right into their hands by showing them the way to Laqua and breaking down the barrier for them and Chalce, in an extra act of cruelty, outs Ann as a spy to her friends. Liko and Dot are horrified, but they can't deny it makes sense since the Explorers just happened to know where they were and where they went every time. Now they know, it was because of Ann ratting them out every time. Liko tearfully demands to know why Ann tricked them like this. Ann, equally as tearful, swears to Liko that the part about them being friends wasn't a lie and that despite her mission, she genuinely likes Liko and never wanted to betray her like that. But she had to do it for her grandfather's sake. Gibeon is dying and he needs more Laquium in order to stay alive, so she had to do it. Hurt and betrayed, Liko demands that Ann battle her right then and there while Friede and Dot take on Chalce, Coral and Sidian. Spinel just slinks off with Gibeon to get the Laquium. The only changes to these battles is that Liko and Dot won't use their starters so we can let their other Pokémon fight. We get Liko's Pikachu vs. Ann's Kilowattrel and Dot's Tinkatink vs. Chalce's Medicham and at one point, Liko catches Ann off-guard by swapping for Charcadet in order to apply more pressure with Fire Spin. The Rising Volt Tacklers win their fights and chase after the villains. It's at this point that Gibeon reveals to Ann that she and Amethio were both disowned for their disloyalty. Heartbroken, Ann angrily scolds her brother for keeping this from her, while Amethio just coolly states he didn't want to hurt her. Appalled, Ann renounces her ties to the Explorers and declares she's with the Rising Volt Tacklers. While still hurt by Ann's betrayal, Liko at least appreciates Ann for joining their side. We then get the reveal that White Zygarde has been watching Gibeon this whole time and reporting to Lucius. Unlike in the original episode, Liko and Lucius will actually have dialogue with each other. Seriously, what the hell was wrong with these writers in the original version? Liko finally gets to meet her great-great-grandfather and she barely says a word to him? That sucked and I'm fixing that here.

And just like in the original version, we get a big final showdown between Liko, Ann, Dot and Amethio against Gibeon's Zygarde, who is only battling the kids to test their resolve and see if they have the strength and courage to truly stop its trainer's mad schemes. During the battle, Liko forgives Ann and Ann promises that when this is all over, she'll make it up to her big time. Unfortunately, Zygarde proves to be too powerful and comes close to winning, but that changes when Liko's Floragato becomes a Meowscarada and lands a decisive hit that convinces Zygarde that the kids are worthy and it abandons Gibeon as a result. We then get the finale which sees Spinel turn the tables with a gadget that dispenses Laquium and causes the Legendary Six Heroes to go berserk. With no other options, our heroes are forced to flee Laqua before they get killed in the crossfire and the Brave Asagi arrives to get everyone away. Unfortunately...

...Friede and Charizard don't make it out alive. They're sent plummeting to their deaths and unlike the original show, they're NOT coming back. They will die for real in this version as I said in Part 1. That way we don't need to contrive some nonsensical explanation for Friede's return that borderline character assassinates him and we don't undermine the tragic ending of this season by having him turn out to be alive. Him dying for real will set up the status quo more strongly for the time-skip era and provide new developments for our heroes now they have to go it alone with no Friede to mentor them.

We then get an epilogue that fast forwards one year to show that Liko and her family have had to go into hiding to avoid being attacked by civilians now that the Rising Volt Tacklers have been painted as villains and the team itself has been forced to disband and have no contact with each other for everyone's safety. Despite this, Liko doesn't plan to give up anytime soon, and neither does Ann. She's gone on her own journey lately with her faithful Crocalor, Kilowattrel and Sandslash by her side. But...

...she has a new friend by her side, a shiny Absol. I once said what a missed opportunity it was for Roy to have this as his big Mega Evolving battler instead of Lucario since Absol would thematically be perfect considering the Rising Volt Tacklers have been framed as bad guys, much like how Absol is commonly seen as a harbinger of misfortune due to disasters happening when it shows up. So here, I'm not letting that opportunity go to waste. Instead of giving Lucario attention it DOESN'T DESERVE(!), we can give the spotlight to Absol this time, and making it a shiny Absol makes it a neat parallel to Roy's shiny Lucario.

The season ends overall with Ann declaring she'll get back to Liko and that she has a present for her and Dot...

And that's it for this part. Once again, we get rid of the useless filler, Lucius and Gibeon are given an episode to show how they met and caught their respective partners, Lucius and Liko get to actually interact with each other, Friede dies for real so the ending won't be retroactively ruined and I think Ann's subplot came to a neat conclusion, don't you?

Join me next time for the epic conclusion as we now enter the time-skip era and the BIGGEST changes I'll be making to the show...

Continued in Part 3.